Annotated Resources

energycenter.org/uploads/energy_plan.pdf
San Diego Regional Energy Plan, this pdf suplies informatiopn about San diego Regional Energy growth. It also offers a 4 step process in helping manage the energy growth and states specific goals we need to make. All of this info can work well with my poster.

usenix.org/events/fast03/tech/full_papers/zedlewski/zedlewski_html
Modeling Hard-Disk Power Consumption, talks about how new technologies such as mp3 players consume a lot of energy.

environmentalleader.com/2009/02/06/video-games-consume-as-much-energy-as-san-diego
Video Games Consume as Much Energy as San Diego, Video games in the U.S. consume 16 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. That translates to over $1billion worth of energy a year.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1692634/pdf/10466143.pdf
Cellular mechanisms of brain energy metabolism and their relevance to functional brain imaging, describes the health hazards to some energy consumptions.

usenix.org/events/osdi04/tech
Energy-Efficiency and Storage Flexibility in the Blue File System, describes some problems with the evolution of mobile storage and its energy consumption issues.

Essential Question Research

1.NationMasters.com

• The U.S. is consuming 20,680,000 bbl/day, which is more than the following 4 ranked countries following the U.S. in most consuming countries. As of 2007 (most recent data I could find). This site's information could also be integrated into our visual element of mine and David's project.

2.Life Cycle Analysis and Assessment

• Explaines what a life cycle analysis is and what the importance of them is. For my particular use though, the importance of them is to explaine how much energy is being used throughout somethings life cycle. From this site I got more questions that I'm going to ask myself to help answer my essential question, for example, how much energy was used in the extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, marketing, use, reuse and maintenance of the product, recycling and disposal as waste at the end of its useful life for each of our sounds in our RnB track.

Three Annotated Sources for Propogation

Source One: "Plant Propogation" (visited 10-9-09)
This site gives information on sexual propagation and asexual propagation. It also has an interesting link to hydroponics that covers all principles of indoor hydroponic horticulture and gardening. This source also provides many links related to propagation that can be very helpful.


Source Two: "Stem Cuttings!" (visited 10-9-09)
This source is mainly for home gardeners, but I thought would be usefull to our classmates as well. The site is very user friendly because of its images, steps, charts and more. If anyone should be choosing to start something from a cutting they should consider going here.

Source Three: "Propagate How To" (visited 10-9-09)
If anyone should be wanting to know how to do a simple to complicated propagation technique then they should use this source. Someone from the class could visit this site and search a particular plant and get a complete walkthrough on how to care for it. With the sites search feature it makes it incredibly easy to navigate.

Farmer in Chief

I thought this article was very insightfull and really took a good look at the base of many of the problems in not only the United States but the world. It seems a lot of current issues have to do with the food crisis we are in. I don't think there is any easy or quick solution, but some of the solutions that the author talked about seemed like a start.

I thought some were a little over the top and would be very hard to get people to go along with, but they all addressed part of the problem. I thought the idea about giving one more dollar a day to each child in a school seemed reasonable, but then the author went on saying that each school should have its own garden and that there should be way more food education. That may not be in every childs or even parents interest.

A metaphor that he used that really struck me was "when we eat food from the industrialized food business we are eating oil and spewing out green house gases." This really grabbed my attention, but curious enough it made me think about organic foods. If for some of the reasons the industrial food business is causing all these things wouldn't it make sence to say eating some organic foods is doing the same? There seems to be no way to not contribute to the food crisis, oil prices and global warming.

All in all this article has left me wondering how the world is going to approach these matters and even if these problems will affect me in my lifetime. I hope you, John!, will be able to shed some light on us and take us more in depth on the subject.

Best Practices for Propogation

If you plan on starting a seed:
If you are using one of the small cell trays fill the amount of cells up with soil depending on how much seeds you plan on starting. Once you fill up the amount of cells with soil you shake the entire tray so the soil settles and there is no big air bubbles. If the soil is dry it is not always best to water from the top, you can fill the bottom tray with water till its about half full then lay the cell's tray inside the tray containing water. Also before planting your seeds, read the back of the seed package for instructions on seed spacing and depth in the soil. Then wait and watch your plant come to life within no time!

John's BFF

Some interesting things he talked about in class today was how he actually goes to fast food resturaunts and asks for their grease, and how his van traveled 60,000 miles on biofuels! Some things i wish that could happen are that the biofuels company in SD could go public and more people in California could switch to alternate fuels. Its a lot more efficient because the grease is going to be thrown out anyway! He really gave me a good incite in class today and I cant wait till we can start applying this stuff to our projects or our class, such as using the biofuel generator at exhibition. Thanks John for bringin him into class!

What I'll Be Growing

Me and Stephanie are going to grow a pumpkin for our stop motion project.

Senior project Interests

I am interested in 7) climate and autmosphere. I don't want to just be taught that humans are the reason for the climate change or that they are the maiun cause because I have found threw recent studies otherwise and have doubts about how much the human contribution is to the climate change. Is this just a natural course that Earth goes threw every 100,000 years or is humans progressing the climate change?
I am also interested in 2) energy and think I can base my senior project on it. Everything needs energy, including bugs to do everyday tasks, wind and cars, etc.. What I would like to do is record energy in use, in other words record the sounds of San Diego and make a music track out of those sounds.

Initial Plant Research

1. Aloe Vera:

I would like to grow an aloe plant because of they have been widely used as natural medicines. Since I have personal interests in becoming a doctor I wanted to be able to create some kind of jell or cream from my plant that can be used for things such as cuts, scrapes, or maybe even rashes. I think some of the family aloe’s have a very unique shape to them and would be nice to use in the mini nature photography project also.

The aloe vera is a succulent plant.

They are extremely frost tender and are grown In warm climates.

It is best to plant aloes in a pot and place where direct sunlight hits. It was difficult fin ding an exact duration of how long it takes to grow but it can fill a good sized pot over the summer season. It seems reasonable from what I’ve read.

Having its own pot seems to be the correct way to grow them, gravel is recommended to put at the bottom of the pot to ensure drainage of all fluids in the soil because the plant flourishes in drier conditions because the plant is 95% water itself. A few pots may be needed to ensure I have enough to make a good portion of the cream/medicine for exhibition.

The plant does not require to be watered every day, it should be watered when its soil surrounding the plant is completely dry. The soil should be moderately fertile and fast draining. 10-40-10 may be the NPK ratio for the fertilizer that is used in the soil.

The aloe vera is also known as the medicinal aloe and it is a species of succulent plants that originated in Northern Africa.

2.Venus Fly Trap:

The venus fly trap very much interests me because of how it looks, certain characteristics about the plant such as being able to eat insects, and it will present me with a small challenge in growing it throughout this project because of the care that is needed when growing it.

Is a carnivorous plant.

Should be grown from May through October and/or kept in 70-95 degrees F.

May be a good idea not to grow from seed, but I have heard from a few different sources that they grow fairly quickly.

A large pot is required to plant a good sized venus fly trap.

Just peat moss for drainage, but the soil must be kept moist at all times. The plant should also not be kept in direct sun light and is good to keep in an area with insects.

Feeding a Venus fly trap hamburger is fatal because of the fat content.

The Natural World

I have always been curious about the human anatomy and would enjoy learning about it in E.S. this year. Also going into the evolution of humans relating the human anatomy would be very interesting. I plan on using my curiosity for the human anatomy and my plant research to make an aloe vera plant and create a cream of some sort that could be used on dry skin, rashes, and possibly cuts.
My curiosity for the human anatomy was fueled ever since I learned about the very basics in grammar school, such as a humans vital organs.

Magazine Reflection

Throughout the process of writing and rewriting my article for the ampersand magazine I learned how important it was to do an in depth and precise look at each sentence for any piece of writing. For example I read through my article sentence by sentence and looked for specific mistakes such as how to use nouns and verbs effectively, making your writing a concert, not a pancakes, and also avoiding sledgehammer words.
In my opinion my first draft was too similar to my original photo essay. What I decided to do, while still in the process of perfecting my article, was to shorten my photo essay and go more in depth on some of the subjects I discussed. Some of the many issues I had when developing my final piece of writing was having everything connect. For example, I was trying to state specific things that did not change such as the emblem on the Naval Training Center Comman Center (NTCCC), but I had not mentioned anything similar to this in the thesis or introduction for that matter. And besides that the major factor why I believe my article was at a high quality piece of writing was because the fact we went over our articles sentence by sentence almost everyday and continued to improve on them constantly.

In this reflection, you can cover (but are not required to do all of):

* Writing

* Editing

* Drafting & Revision

* Layout & Design

* Photography

* Creativity & Originality

* The printing & publishing process & industry

* Your own thoughts about your path beyond 11th grade (and beyond HTHMA... that's what internship is about, right?)

* American society

* The American economy

* History & social studies

* And much much more!!!!

What did you learn?

How did you learn it?

Why is this important?

This should be posted as a blog entry by the end of the school day on Monday 6/1

Obama and Socialism

Some of the articles that I got when I searched "Obama Socialism" on google were mainly about the controversy of Obama being a Socialist. I got similar results when I searched Obama Socialism in google news, Steele urged to label Obama a Socialist, an article I read was about the same controversy. Why Obama's socialism matters gives reasonable evidence why he could be considered a socialist in the past, but I believe that a large majority of his polocies and proposals can not be classified as socialist. Most of his proposals and policies also can beclassified as a precedent act, since he is the president of the United States.

Photo Essay

1. NTC (Naval Training Camp) was initially a boot camp for Navy recruits. It was built in the 1940’s and not till recently the buildings have been refurbished. The area is known for its historic landmarks and the event venues, owned by NTC Promenade, that were previously the buildings used for the Naval Training Camp. Special events are planned and held at many of the buildings, and more buildings are currently being refurbished because most of the historic buildings
2. The NTCCC (Naval Training Camp Command Center) is on of the most historic buildings located at NTC Promenade in my opinion because of its features and former use. Well the name says it all, it was used as a command center for the Naval Training Camp, most meetings were held there and meetings are still held there today. Inside of the building there is many different displays that talk about what the building was originally for and some of the items on display were things used by the Navy recruits. The logo outside is especially important because it is the only feature of the building that has not been refurbished, it is the original logo.

3. Quarters A was first used as a house for high ranking officers in the Navy, but has been changed into one of the office locations for the NTC Promenade staff. There is similar displays in this building that are similar to the displays in The NTC Command Center, most of them being maps, pictures and paintings, and some being of no historic value such as brochures or handouts. This gives you an idea how much NTC has really changed into something new. I also believe that the view San Diego from Quarters A shows a lot of change because the city was probably not as big 70 years ago.

4. NTC Promenade is full of historic landmarks, many of which I haven’t learned about. This statue still stands, but seems to be falling apart, but has probably been there for over 50 years. The small monuments around NTC Promenade caught my attention because it shows how dedicated the people are who are working for the NTC Foundation are in safekeeping the landmarks and monuments at NTC Promenade.

5. It has been a pleasure interning here and not only because of the healthy working environment, but I can sometimes stop to admire some of the historical landmarks and monuments around NTC Promenade and inside the office.

What I'm Bringing to the Magazine

1. What article(s) would you like to write for the magazine? What photography could you contribute? Art? List three different ideas for your major contribution. I'm not much of a photographer or an artist so I would like to write an article either about my personal internship experience, or how going to internship differs from immersion, and I could possibly write about social networking.

2. Suggest at least one (or more) possible title for the magazine. This could be a title with or without a subtitle. For example, I work for UnBoxed: a Journal of Adult Learning in Schools. HTHMA: Internship experience

3. Suggest a topic for an article that you were personally like to read in a magazine inspired by the internship semester. I would want to read something with humor incorporated into it.

Internship Immersion

Profit is not a very big deal at NTC promenade because it is a o=nonprofit and the money they make mostly goes to renovating their buildings. Socail wefare is supported at NTC promenade, they help plan events such as job fairs and other public events. Advertising is a major portion of the company because NTC is very well known. Promotion is also key for the company to function well. The market is not very important because they do not sell merchandise or anything along those lines. Politics has been important recently because they have had to ask for stimulus money according to Local Group Hopes Stimulus Will Help Project.

Immersion!!

1. I am most excited about completing the photo essay. I am not really sure what I'm going to do for the photo essay and I have no experience in photography but it will be interesting to try and tell my internship story through the photo essay. I already have some ideas for pictures, for example my desk has a really nice view of the city and I was planning on getting abstract photo's by taking pictures of things from an odd view/perspective.

2. Having to be at my internship site for 7 hours will be pretty stressful. I will be able to get a lot done in that amount of time, but I think there will be times when I will have nothing to do. One other thing that I've been worried about is using social networking sites that I have no experience on. My mentor wants me to eventually use Twitter, Ning, and other sites to increase the organizations Internet presence.

Outstanding Blogz

1. Economic advice to Barack Obama?
Jacob Harris's blog has a very good example of economic advice to Barack Obama. He decided to focus on more than one idea rather than just one. I was never confused or was wondering what his advice was, it was very clear and straight to the point. For example his first piece of advice was: "Give every major financial companies CEO/CFO/COO a government employed watcher, so as to prevent any mishaps such as Thorpe's renovation of his Merrill Lynch office. Who pays ~$1400 on a trash can? It's still going to fill up with trash."

2. Literary Analysis?

Ana Forsythe's honors blog she wrote about The Alchemist, she was very descirptive and used very good examples from the book to support what she thought was the theme. She explained how allegory was key in "tying this book together." Allegory is simply the representation of abstract ideas or principles. Her example was as follows: "The wise man tells Santiago to carry a spoon full of oil without spilling it, and look through his house full of treasures, paintings, and marvels of the world. The first time, Santiago was focused so intently on keeping the oil on the spoon, that he didn't notice any of the paintings or treasures. After he was told to look at the walls, he forgot all about the oil and let it all spill to the ground."

3. Historical Writing?

Will had an outstanding example of the relevance of FDR's first inaugural address in modern America. He expressed how speaches are only intended to raise confidence in listeners where otherwise there would be only despair. He then goes on to say FDR's first inaugural address, under closer inspection these uplifting words are revealed to be meaningless." I disagreed with him completely until i read on. Will stated "You will be convinced of this by examining the purpose of speeches and their inherent un-trustability." His view was completely different than mine and opened a new perspective for me.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

As humanities students (and humans), what responsibility do we have for the understanding of science?

I believe people can choose to learn about science if they would like to or not, but curiosity is in human nature and that is what has drove scientists for all these years.

What role should scientific inquiry and scientific knowledge play in our own society?

Science can be used to make inventions to make our lives easier.For example, cell phones make communication much easier.

How should science influence our decisions, laws, and culture?

I think our culture is very influenced by science. Science is used in peoples everyday life.

If I Were obama's Economic Advisor

Part Two:

As the economic crisis gets worse regulation is something we need to consider along with a better stimulus package. Obama even depicted the current economic crisis is a consequences of deregulation, and he is not the only one. Michigan's Phil Hart, held hearings on the concentration of economic power in the United States, and proposed expanded government regulation of everything from the oil and auto industries to sports. In my opinion this is exactly what we need to do.

Ever since the 1960's when the rush for deregulation began problems have been starting ever since. Take the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act for example, it destroyed the CAB and removed most regulation of commercial airlines. Deregulation of the telecommunications industry reduced the number of major phone service providers. There is many more incidents that we should take into consideration when deciding how to solve our economic crisis.

Aside the point of regulation, the reason why our current bailout is not stimulating the economy is because how the money is being spent. A spokesman for JPMorgan Chase said, "We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it." While other banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going according to Matt Apuzzo. The next stimuli's plan must be spent more wisely and we need to know where the money is going. Instead of giving the money to banks and other companies I believe we need to use the stimulus plan to fix another problem all together, unemployment.

According to the chart above unemployment has been a rising issue. With the stimulus package we should create jobs that will decrease the unemployment rate immensely. This will also increase consumerism which will help stabalize the economy as well. When unemployment rates it has been shown to produce spending cutbacks and that alone can hurt the economy according to John Kemp.

All this may not be able to get down quickly or may not help the economy very quickly but over time it would. This plan may also prevent future economic proublems from being as severe because there would be less unemployment.


Citations:

• Ridgeway, James, and unenforcement.. "It's the Deregulation, Stupid." MotherJones.com Home - Daily News, Political Commentary and Analysis. 11 Feb. 2009

• Kemp, John. "The Great Debate » Debate Archive » Rising unemployment gravest threat to U.S. and UK The Great Debate ." Reuters US Blogs Blogs . 11 Feb. 2009

• " Chart: Unemployment rate in U.S. since January 2008." Reliable Plant Magazine and Lean Manufacturing Journal. 12 Feb. 2009 .

• Apuzzo, Matt. " CNSNews.com - Where Did the Bailout Money Go? Banks Can’t, or Won’t, Say." CNSNews.com. 12 Feb. 2009 .

If I were Obama's Economics Advisor...

Part One:

As the economic crisis gets worse regulation is something we need to consider. Obama even depicted the current economic crisis is a consequences of deregulation, and he is not the only one. Michigan's Phil Hart, held hearings on the concentration of economic power in the United States, and proposed expanded government regulation of everything from the oil and auto industries to sports. In my opinion this is exatly what we need to do.

ever since the 1960's when the rush for deregulation began problems have been starting ever sicne. Take the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act for example, it destroyed the CAB and removed most regulation of commercial airlines. Deregulation of the telecommunications industry reduced the number of major phone service providers. There is many more incidents that we should take into consideration when deciding how to solve our economic crisis.

Part Two:

My mentor interview is scheduled for this upcoming Tuesday during internship and they have recording equipment that we can use for the interview.